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Monday, 11 April 2016

Economic hitmen, media and the myth of freedom in a democracy!

There is something grotesque about the way this world functions. Things appear so fragmented, so isolated, and yet there's an incredible connection that only a few could see. And those empowered enough to see it are either too timorous, too apathetic or are in connivance with the ones calling the shots. There are too many buzzwords hurled all over the world to make us feel pretty good about world order, which frankly speaking, is a bit of an oxymoron. The world, when referring to the beings residing in it, are by nature chaotic and rampant, and hence imposition of an order, is tantamount to chaffing their core liberty and fomenting their instinct of rebellion. Hence while a world order is at the zenith of the halcyon portrayed in the Koran, these buzzwords spread hope. This hope keeps us going, and gives us an aplomb, but there's big danger lurking. We're in the process of making things appear more idyllic than they are. We're hiding the demons and putting only the good things at display. We're in short making everyone feel good and sanguine. But the danger is that were still perpetrating misinformation. And we do know how misinformation, when the lid was blown of it, resulted in some of the most flagrant destruction mankind ever witnessed.

Just another deal of a large American energy company and a spinoff from the fiefdom of the Persian gulf, or a spree of financial institute collapses, or the bailout of a few while sacrificial oblation of others. These are not random inadvertent events. Economic advisors and the layers of analysts beneath them project future scenarios 10 and 20 years down the line. Then there are international regulatory bodies, working in close loop with financial gateways of major economies. But finally, the stuntmen in this global economic potpourri, is the extremely advanced breed of economic hitmen.

Mankind has always found some solace in linking everything to religion. And with religion comes an irresistible temptation to deploy religious caveats to the concept of the operation. The Koran dictates the inseparability of the state and the religion. Christianity bred imperialism. And almost every other religion would have some tacit or delineated abstract on how religion fuels the system's cogs and sprockets. So with the Christian Imperialism apparently lunching global peace so openly, capitalism took over. And with the odiousness of Capitalism soon getting questioned by demands of global amnesty for the frail and the unprivileged, the most powerful clan of scions from all over the world had to create a new weapon. A weapon that beneath the pretext of corporate benignity, could perpetrate the same old imperialistic malaise, thereby denigrating the promise of equality, and furthering the original agenda of superiority for a chosen few. No surprise the 2015 OxFam study told us the world has more inequality than ever!

Economic hitmen have an aura of insidiousness and gaucherie about them. They set in corporate headquarters, consultancy corporations, global analysis wings, secretariats to finance and power ministries, embassies and last but not the least, in global monetary organizations. Post world war 2 when the world moved towards a reform of visible development with no hidden agendas, the first generations of these precocious hitmen was already in action. The Persian gulf which was largely occupied by men clad in white so eager to turn their brethren raiment red, was now basking under the dream of prosperity it could never even imagine. Oil was at the fulcrum of all development to follow, and American capitalistic mavericks and Russian oligarchies, both set their eyes on all that was there to savor.

American hitmen hit pay dirt in the late 60's and early 70's. The royal Saud family was convinced of America's technological prowess and just right in getting multi billion dollar drilling contracts, and on the other hand, America's first claim on turning around arid deserts into Ivory towers overnight also seemed appealing. And snap! Two decades later, Saudi Arabia became both the pulpit of modernization, and the centaph of sovereignty. The royal Saud family spoke from every platform volumes about their role in elevating the lifestyle of their countrymen, and America about its supremacy and goodwill in making the world a better place to live in. And slowly and steadily America kept inching closer to assert a much larger dominion of control all over the world. And only today when we see where it stands, that we realize how it put pieces in the puzzle to set up this condescending network of control points.

The economic hitmen were not just furthering an economic agenda. They were also emboldening the second stratum of bested interests. While the US, Russia and major European powers were changing one economy at a time, the hitmen were weaving a very intricate network of diplomatic triggers built through economic mutuality and tie ups. Both India and Pakistan have to ally with America. Pakistan hid their secret planes in Peshawar, India has and continues to seek massive investments. Likewise, every regional triad or quartet of influential powers, irrespective of how much frisson they witness when hearing of each other, is in someway or the other affected by the whims and fancies of the mighty USA. Such was the impact of the nuances manifest in most of the sprawling global corporate cartels these hitmen created. And then the final nail in the coffin was to follow up soon. Media consolidation.

Media transformed during the 50's from a set of large government owned or subsidized media stations, to giant media houses, to titanic business conglomerates, one of whose many ventures would be a large and substantial media house. And hence suddenly, the already complex labyrinth of these myriad of interconnected players, all having some say in the way the world functions, linked up even more unnervingly. And soon, this unedeifying network of global players, grew exponentially to involve large corporations from almost all the nations. Not surprisingly, most of these nations were palpably successful free democratic economies too. Just like the soigne of the ball game USA.

People of all these economies, living under the clout of a mediocre media depicting redacted reality, teamed up with corporations both feeding the media and the government, to term every corporate progression egalitarian. Thus a staccato of developments and subsequent announcements was produced, which post initial skepticism, resulted in accession of public belief. And with constant reinforcements of this belief, the corporatocrcy - Corporate + Democracy soon replaced democracy by all means. So the democracy which faithfully stands to serve as the palimpest of struggle and torment to gain freedom, was soon replaced by a hideous, obstreperous and avaricious monster, which above all, appeared like a Samaritan!

The world as we live in today, may give the impression of a very ideal state. Barring a few, we've kept our killer instincts at bay for very long now, and we can even commend ourselves for that. But in reality, there is no comeuppance large enough for what we've done to ourselves and our liberty. While we still appear as if our rights are protected, the constitution which dictates those rights is the heirloom of this powerful syndicate. And judiciary, which by default should've been quarantined, is rendered ineffective due to lack of action from authorities once again falling under the realm of public administration solely controlled by the elected representatives. All in all, it's utter chaos from within. All this freedom, all this exercise of constitutionally ensconced powers is allowed till a limit. And then suddenly, everything turns against you and you become the antagonist who just wants to disrupt peace. And before you could catch a whiff, the tentacles of this cartel of beasts clips off your nascent wings once and for all. And you realize how the democracy, whose chief aspect worth cherishing was freedom, is bereft of that element itself. The world is not at peace. It's in a constant state of war. Wars fought at stock exchanges, banks, oil fields and what not. And the wars whose impact surfaces when immigrants are forced to take up arms and blow themselves up or when famished children die of malnutrition. And yet we're happy in our own closet, silently waiting for someone to tell us it's all wrong, even when something within us keeps telling us it's more than wrong. But we'll wait, because that's what we always do!